


Chemistry

by Xenotopsy



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Lams - Freeform, M/M, mullette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22021297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenotopsy/pseuds/Xenotopsy
Summary: When Lafayette stepped inside the doors of Satisfied High for the first time, his life changed forever.
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens, Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette/Hercules Mulligan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. First Day of School

**Author's Note:**

> If you read my story Royally Good it takes place after this story, so you can read them in either order.

“Thank you, Mr. Washington,” I said when I got out of his car. I was about to shut the door when he started talking to me.

“Gilbert, you’re going to go to the front office and tell them your name to get your schedule, okay?”

“Yes, thank you again,” I said and shut the door. I wanted to arrive early so that I would have time to walk around the school and not be late to my first class of the day.

There were only a few other students walking in the doors at the same time as me, but none of them paid me any attention.

I stepped inside, where helpful lettering above a door pointed out the front office. I walked inside to see that there was already a boy sitting in a chair waiting.

“Are you Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette?” the boy asked. I nodded. “I picked up your schedule for you, I can show you around the school,” he said. “I’m John Laurens.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said.

“So, Gilbert, we have our first class together,” John said, “Cooking with Mr. Herman.”

“I prefer Lafayette,” I said.

“Okay,” John said. “Want to go see the cooking classroom?” I nodded.

John showed me around the school, showing me my classes, the bathrooms, the library, and other rooms that I might need to know where they are. By the time the tour was over, there were more students there and the hallways were more crowded.

“You should sit by my friends and me at lunch since we have Chemistry together.” John brought me over to the locker area where two other boys were waiting for him, one of which was short and overall tiny, the other one... Oh God was he handsome.

“Lafayette, these are my friends, Alex and Hercules,” John said. I waved. So the handsome one was Hercules.

“John, you never showed up to Chem to do the stoichiometry practice,” Alex said.

“I was showing Lafayette around,” John replied. “Either way, wasn’t it really just eating donuts and telling Mr. Frederick that you were doing homework?”

“To be fair,” Hercules said, “we did get two problems done.”

I took Chemistry at my old school, but I didn’t get to finish it because I had to transfer foster homes halfway through the trimester. I already knew how to do stoichiometry.

“I finished the worksheet,” John said. He opened up his locker and grabbed two textbooks. “I got your textbook for you yesterday.” He handed me a textbook with a faded periodic table on the front. He had an identical textbook in his hands.

“I’m going to go to the gym,” Alex said. “I have to get there early to run the mile.” Alex left in the opposite direction of the gym.

“He doesn’t even take gym,” Hercules explained. “He just wants to hang out with his girlfriend before study hall.”

“Yeah,” John said. “But you would do the same if we didn’t have cooking together.”

“Lizzy broke up with me,” Hercules said. “I told Alex during stoichiometry practice.”

I could only assume that meant that Hercules was straight, but the back of my mind was screaming bisexual... and single!

Of course, my gaydar and please-be-gaydar are often confused. The alarms sound so similar.

“How about you, Lafayette?” Hercules asked. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“God no,” I said. “Not interested.”

“No one from your old school, devastated that you had to leave?” John asked. 

“No,” I said. “I mostly kept to myself.” There was actually a girl that asked me out, but we never talked and either way, not interested.

“Did you like anyone?” Hercules asked.

“Had to leave before you had the chance to confess your feelings?” John asked.

“No, I only stayed at my last two schools for a few weeks, they were in-between households before the Washington’s were ready.”

“Were they nice?” Hercules asked.

“The schools or the houses?” I asked. “Actually, they all sucked. That’s how in-between households are, they’re not looking for a kid. It’s a last resort.”

The bell rang and the three of us walked to the cooking classroom. Hercules was telling John about his breakup.

“She said that I wasn’t ‘emotionally mature enough’ to date her,” he said. “Also that I smell like peanuts, which is fair.”

“If you’re not emotionally mature enough for a girlfriend I don’t know what Alex does before study hall.”

We walked into the cooking classroom. “Herman has a new seating chart every day, so don’t get used to your spot,” John said. We went up to the front of the classroom to look at a green sheet of paper. I found my name at the back of the classroom next to the name Peggy. I set my backpack under the table that I was assigned to.

The table had a piece of pink paper on it with a decorative number 4 on it. Every table had a number and two chairs.

The final bell rang as a man who couldn’t be older than 25 walked in carrying a pile of books. They were bound with purple binding and looked brand new.

“I would like to welcome Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette to our classroom,” he said. “Gilbert, I’m Mr. Herman.”

Mr. Herman set a book down on each table. The cover said “Polly’s Recipes for All Sorts of Pasta.” The door opened again and a small girl in a yellow dress burst into the room. She had a slip of green paper in her hand that she gave to Mr. Herman.

“I was at the orthodontist,” she said. She flashed a big smile, revealing slightly crooked teeth with wire and brackets. Not her first trip, I’m assuming. “We usually get here on time, but there was an accident on the highway.”

“You’re seated in the back, Peggy.” Mr. Herman said. Peggy walked over to our table and set down a notebook and pencil pouch.

“Are you new?” Peggy whispered. I nodded. “I’m Peggy Schuyler.”

“Lafayette,” I said. Mr. Herman held up his copy of Polly’s cookbook.

“We’re going to be making some pasta today, and I see that Thomas isn’t here, so Hercules, why don’t you sit with Peggy and Gilbert?” Hercules, who was sitting at his own table, stood up and walked to our table. He took a spare chair from the empty table next to us.

“Kitchen four,” Hercules said, “is the worst kitchen. The stove is faulty.”

“If you heat it up slowly it works,” Peggy said. “Most of the time.”

“Kitchen one will be making ravioli, page 64,” Mr. Herman said. “Kitchen two can make baked macaroni or macaroni salad, pages 72 and 73. Kitchen three will make fettuccine Alfredo, page 85, kitchen four will make lasagna, page 143, and kitchen five will make Pasta Primavera, page 191.”

“At least we got the easy one,” Hercules said.

We got through the stove issues and not having enough garlic. Hercules kept a secret stash of garlic in his backpack, as well as salt, pepper, and curry powder. “The school cafeteria doesn’t know what seasoning is,” he explained.

We were one of the first groups done, mostly because we had a third person. We cut our lasagna into nine pieces so that everyone in the class could have some and ate our pieces at the table.

“I told you we got the easy one,” Hercules said. “We put in no effort and it still tastes just fine.” 

“Don’t let Mr. Herman hear you say that,” I said. “I want my grade to reflect the effort he thinks that I put in.” 

“Herman doesn’t care,” Peggy said. “He gave me an A when I burnt the salad. I don’t know how I did that.” 

“I told you that you needed the recipe,” John said from kitchen two. “You’re the one who thought you needed to cook it.” 

“You went to the bathroom and left me on my own,” Peggy said. 

“It’s a salad, Pegs,” John said. Peggy smiled. 

When the bell rang at the end of class, John walked over to our table. “Lafayette, you’re going to algebra, right?” 

I looked down at my schedule. “Yes I am,” I said. 

”Alex has that with you, so you two can go to chemistry together after.” We left the classroom and walked to our next classes.


	2. Lunch With the Boys (And Peggy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lafayette’s first lunch period at Satisfied High takes an... odd turn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates on this story will be entirely random, so the next chapter could be out anywhere from tomorrow to two months from now, I’ll try to post at least twice a month though.

After algebra, Alex showed me to the lunchroom. “We usually sit over by the bookshelf on the stairs,” he said. “I have to go get my lunch first.”

“I have mine with me,” I said. Mr. Washington has packed me a lunch in a blue metal briefcase-like lunchbox. I hadn’t even looked inside it yet.

“I’ll see you at the stairs,” Alex said. I walked over to the stairs and there were two bookshelves on opposite ends of the door to a classroom. I wouldn't have known which one to sit by if Peggy hadn’t already been sitting there.

I walked over with my lunch and sat down facing her.

“Hi, Peggy,” I said.

“Ow,” she said.

“Ow?”

“I got my braces tightened this morning and I got power chains for the first time,” she said. She had lunch in a yellow heart-shaped lunchbox. “What do you have for lunch?”

I opened my lunchbox. “A sandwich, a chocolate bar, a bag of chips, and a water bottle,” I said, pulling out each piece. I opened up the sandwich. “A turkey sandwich to be exact.”

“I have a ham sandwich,” Peggy said. “But I also have a fruit cup.”

“Do you have something to drink?” I asked. I wasn’t particularly thirsty and my water was cold.

“I have strawberry lemonade, do you want some?” she asked.

“Oh no, I was going to offer you my water.”

“John will take it if you don’t want it,” she said. “He takes my fruit cups because I don’t like strawberries.”

“Why do you pack them?” I asked. Hercules sat down next to me.

“For John,” Peggy said.

“I give John my cheese sticks because they come with my meal and he’s a self-described ‘cheese-fiend.’” Hercules said. John sat down next to Peggy.

“It’s true,” he said, grabbing the string cheese off of Hercules’ tray.

“Aw man,” Hercules said. “I got plain shrimp instead of garlic shrimp. Lafayette, do you want it?”

“No thank you,” I said. “I’m allergic to shellfish. Don’t you have garlic in your backpack?”

“Unless anyone here has melted butter that sounds like a bad idea,” Hercules said. Peggy reaches into her bag. 

“Does anyone have access to a microwave?” she asked. 

”What the fuck, Peggy?” John asked. 

“I get snacky,” Peggy said. 

”So you eat butter?” I asked. She nodded. Alex sat down in between Hercules and Peggy. 

“Hey Pegs, where was Eliza this morning?” Alex asked. 

“We were late to school because there was an accident on the highway,” Peggy said. 

“Don’t you guys live within walking distance?” Alex asked. Peggy smiled at him. 

“I got my braces tightened this morning,” she said.

I opened the bar of chocolate and a slip of paper fell out. It had Mr. Washington’s phone number and said “Good luck on your first day!” 

“How did he get that inside of there?” Peggy asked. I shrugged. Alex stood up. 

“I’m going to go get ketchup,” he said. Peggy watched him walk away and turned to the rest of us. 

“Eliza told us to tell everyone there was an accident, she just didn’t want to see Alex this morning,” Peggy said. “She’s going to break up with him.” 

“Good God, Peggy,” Hercules said. “Why would you tell us this?” 

“I thought John would like to know,” she said with a wicked smile on her face. John’s face went red. 

“Just shut up,” he said. 

“John has had a crush on Alex since Freshman year,” Hercules said. “But Alex has been dating Eliza since fifth grade.” 

“That’s a long time,” I said. 

“In eighth grade they were planning their wedding,” John said. 

“So why is she breaking up with him?” I asked Peggy. Peggy pretended to zip her lips shut. She pointed at Alex, who was approaching with a container holding ketchup. 

“I probably don’t need this much,” Alex said. “I’m only dipping my fries.” 

We all exchanged a look. Alex didn’t notice because he was too busy dipping a fry in his ketchup.

“So,” Alex said. “Eliza was on her way to the bathroom and decided to go through the cafeteria.”

“Did you say hi?” Peggy asked.

“Yeah and she broke up with me,” Alex said. “She said that I’m ‘too obviously into someone else.’ I don’t even know who she would think that is.” He looked back down at his tray and Peggy poked John.

“What?” John mouthed. “They just broke up.”

Peggy winked. “I’m sorry, Alex,” she said. “I hope us hanging out won’t be weird for you.”

“No,” Alex said. “I associate you two with different things, besides before school because I see you at your locker.”

“I’ll join you guys at your locker tomorrow,” Peggy said. “Laf, where’s your locker?”

“Down the hall from theirs,” I said. Hercules gave Peggy a weird look.

“Laf?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Peggy said. “Three syllables takes up a lot of time and energy.”

“I don’t mind,” I said.

Alex dipped another fry in his gallon of ketchup. He didn’t look disturbed. “Do any of y’all have the answer to number two on the Chem homework?”

“Copper (II) Sulfate,” John said immediately.

“That one was easy,” Hercules said.

“I just didn’t want to do the homework,” Alex said. “I’ve asked around for all of the other answers as well.”

“You’re prepared for the test,” Peggy said sarcastically.

“Like you have academic integrity,” John said.

“I don’t care about academic integrity when it comes to Capitalism 101,”

“Intro to Business,” John said to me. Alex started crying. Loudly.

“We were so young, it was inevitable,” he said through his tears. We all looked at each other. He stopped crying and started eating his fries again.

“Hey, you know it’s okay to cry, right?” Hercules asked. Alex nodded.

“I don’t really know how,” he said. “I haven’t really cried in years.”

“Baby,” Peggy said. “Let’s get you into a bathroom with a box of tissues and a copy of The Fault in Our Stars.” Hercules nodded and pulled the book out of his backpack. He looked up at me and winked. My face turned improbably red so I pretended to look in my backpack for tissues.

I already knew that they were in my front pocket, but I looked through all of them anyways to give myself some time to get over the wink. It wasn’t even that big of a deal, but he is... glorious.


End file.
